The Centurion apartment building in Midtown Manhattan features a lavish master bedroom. / Centurion

by Nancy Trejos, USA TODAY

by Nancy Trejos, USA TODAY

Gianfranco Garibaldo, owner of a real estate business in Monaco, travels to New York three or four times a year for business.

He used to stay at the Plaza Hotel, where room rates typically exceed $500 a night.

But he grew tired of paying that much a night. So he decided to buy a one-bedroom apartment at the W NY Downtown in Manhattan, which houses hotel rooms and apartments priced at $1.2 million or more. He figured it was a good investment, and he liked the idea of having a familiar place to stay with a closet full of clothing while enjoying the hotel's amenities.

"It's absolutely to me non-economical to go to a hotel in Manhattan because they are so expensive," he says.

Visitors to New York are finding they don't have to pay for a hotel room. Increasingly, they're seeing a host of alternatives - from renting rooms to swapping apartments to even buying second homes.

Sales managers at apartment buildings say they see an uptick in the number of frequent travelers buying second homes. Visitors who don't have money to invest in a condo or co-op have other options. Websites that offer apartments for rent or swap are growing in popularity. And new corporate apartments are being built throughout the city.

"It's a better value proposition than a lot of hotels at comparable categories, and because of that you're seeing tremendous growth," says Chekitan Dev, an associate professor at Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration.

New York has some of the highest hotel room rates in the country. The average daily rate in New York last year was $251.59, up from $244.60 in 2011. But room rates can typically climb into the high hundreds.

That's why Brian Averna, a food-service consultant in East Haven, Conn., chose to rent an apartment in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood rather than a hotel room the last time he was there for work.

He initially looked at reserving four hotel rooms for two nights at close to $500 each. He also would have had to rent meeting rooms and a kitchen to conduct business. Instead, he found a condo that could sleep four people.

"The condo we rented had lots of public space, a full kitchen and a ping-pong room which served, along with beer, as our late-night entertainment," he says. "I saved about $2,000 by the time we were done and it was so much more private and enjoyable."

Exchange sites flourish

Home exchange and rental sites are thriving in New York despite a law that went into effect in 2011 that prohibits renting apartments for 29 days or less. There are exceptions that still make it possible to stay in people's homes. Rooms can be rented as long as the tenant is present. And apartments can be procured if there's no money exchanged.

That's good for HomeExchange.com, a website that links people who want to trade homes temporarily for free. Ed Kushins, president of the exchange, says that listings have jumped from 9,000 in 2006 to 43,000 now. In New York, the number of listings jumped from about 400 in 2006 to 1,264 today. He says the number of listings worldwide has grown by about 20% each year, and that New York is the most sought-after domestic destination.

"In New York, there's so much demand for accommodations that people (living there) get a tremendous number of inquiries," he says.

On HomeAway.com, a vacation rental website, there are 1,765 listings in New York City, a 15% increase over last year. Worldwide, there are 335,000 listings, a 16% spike in inventory.

"While local regulations in urban areas tend to restrict the supply of legal short-term rentals, the high price of hotel rooms in cities has added to the appeal of rentals in those areas," says Carl Shepherd, HomeAway co-founder. "For about the same cost as a single hotel room in a city, you can expect to get a kitchen and a full living room, and in many cases multiple bedrooms."

Not feeling trapped

Angel Cicerone, a small-business consultant, opted for a home exchange when she visited New York for eight days around Thanksgiving. She swapped her two-bedroom apartment in downtown Miami for a large studio in New York's West Village. She loved the financial benefits. But she also says staying in someone's apartment in a residential neighborhood helped her get to know the city better.

"It's so different than staying in a hotel," she says. "You get to make coffee in the morning and â?¦ carry on almost a life as opposed to being trapped in a hotel."

Interest in corporate apartments also is growing, particularly among business travelers.

Last week, Silverstein Properties, developer of the World Trade Center complex, bought the Beekman Tower Hotel in Midtown with plans to spend $25 million converting it into furnished, upscale corporate apartments with 30-day minimum stays.

"We think there's a real need for it in Manhattan," says Martin Burger, co-chief executive of Silverstein Properties. "It's a better lifestyle choice than living in a transient hotel."

That's why other travelers choose to buy apartments and not become hotel regulars. Mortgage interest rates are near all-time lows and housing prices are starting to recover.

Thomas Guss, president of New York Residence, the marketing agency for the Centurion, a luxury Midtown Manhattan apartment building, says 85% of the units have been sold, many to people whose primary residences are not in New York.

"The concept of a home is more appealing to them than a hotel," he says. "The coming-home effect is important to people."

That was a big draw for Garibaldo. "When the business day is over, you get there and you have everything you want," he says.